| Abstract [eng] |
Dovidauskaitė-Bastienė, I. (2022). Associations between early childhood trauma experiences and behavioural and emotional difficulties. Master's thesis. Vilnius: Vilniaus universitetas, p. 55. 70,2% adults have experienced at least one traumatic event. Childhood traumatic experiences are related to psychological difficulties in childhood and in adulthood. Considering the development of psychopathology, early interventions are needed, so it is important to notice signs of traumatic experiences early and assess what kind of difficulties children experience after traumatic events. However, there aren't enough developmentally sensitive tools, which could help assess a child's well-being and screen for signs of trauma. The goal of this research is to assess what kind of behavioural and emotional difficulties a child experiences after traumatic events. In total 31 children (9 boys and 22 girls) from schools and kindergardens participated in current research. Age of participants ranged from 3 to 9 years old (M = 6,39; SD = 1,56). This study used a demographic questionnaire; for trauma screening the Child and Adolescent Trauma Screening (CATS) and the Odense Child Trauma Screening (OCTS) was used; emotional and behavioural difficulties was assessed with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Results showed that (1) 64,5 % of children have experienced at least one traumatic experience, the most common traumatic experience was stress and fear inducing medical situation; (2) the most prevalent difficulties among children were emotional difficulties and peer problems; (3) interpersonal traumatic experiences were related to signs of traumatization (OCTS); (4) children who scored „abnormal“ on emotional difficulties and children who scored „borderline“ and „abnormal“ on hyperactivity had experienced more interpersonal trauma; (5) children who scored „borderline“ and „abnormal“ on hyperactivity had higher signs of traumatization (OCTS); (6) from the group of children who had 0-1 traumatic experience none of them scored „abnormal“ on emotional difficulties, however, from the group of children who had 2 or more traumatic experience 33,3 % scored „abnormal“ on emotional difficulties. Current research confirms the relationship between childrens traumatic experiences and emotional and behavioural difficulties. Additionally, it emphasizes the need for new tools to recognise the signs of trauma in small children. |
